Next Stop: New Orleans on Dec 8

It's time to head home for a week before once again venturing out.  See you in New Orleans on the eighth.

Cheers

Trains, beer and Taka

Its a beautiful day! Finally.  CJ's begins the day with a long walk along San Diego's wonderful waterfront promenade. When did that kissing statue show up next to the Midway.

Balboa Park is a place of many surprises.  The topography is laced with ravines.  Previously we've been to the zoo but today's visit takes us to the original buildings.

 

 It appears Carol is dressed in the color of the day.  And what do you think about this color coordinated poster with her name?

 



The first stop is the San Diego Model Railroad museum.  This is a magical place run by local model railroad clubs.  One of the more extensive displays represents the real serpentine rise between Bakersfield and Mohave. It's a single circuit with three or more trains running on it.  Somehow these guys have managed to get multiple engines to pull over 30 cars at once. This circuit is so big it takes over an HOUR for a train to complete the entire run.

 

And there is one room after another of these displays.  All scales are represented.  After being disappointed by the display in Pittsburgh, this one made up for it.

After lunch at the historic restaurant in the complex, we're off to the Miramar area to sample craft beer.

 

AleSmith has a new tasting complex.  A knowledgeable fellow, Chris leads us through the menu. Can we possibly do another one after this.  The trick is to leave a lot of good beer sitting on the table.

 

Chris recommends Amplified Ale as our next stop.  One reason is that a new up and coming brewery, Pure Project, is located next door.

 

The trip couldn't possibly end without more sea urchin at Taka.

 

Rain Again!

So much for our short vacation to the city with the perfect weather.  It began raining Saturday evening and is scheduled to continue throughout today although today will have breaks.

It's Monday and the Navy is back to work.  An Aegis cruiser and one of the new LCS ships pass by on their return to the sea.

 

During the first break in the rain, CJ gets in a short walk.  The glass buildings are the Marriott.

 

We take advantage of a short break to catch the trolley to Little Italy for lunch in a James Beard award winning restaurant. It serves creative drinks and creative delicious food. The first dish is nachos that don't quite look like nachos. There are four tasty dipping sauces. We split three very different tacos.

 

 

 

 

 

We're seated at the bar and our bartender/server is magnificent. Lunch ends with a complimentary splash of his favorite tequila.

Rain in San Diego?

It's raining in San Diego in the morning. There will be off and on rain mixed with sun throughout the day although the afternoon is better than the morning. What's worse is the strong wind.

There is a Mexican restaurant with over 1800 tequila in Old Town.  Who knew there were that many?  It's located just above a liquor store where Carol found two bottles of her rare bourbon.

Although the online reviews weren't all that good, the food was very good.  We may return for lunch on another day. Their specialty drinks are very good and Carol's octopus tacos and CJ's duck tacos are very good.

 

 

 

 

This weather wasn't in the long range forecast and we're not packed for it. Since rain continues to threaten and the wind remains blustery, we decide to return to the room and watch football the rest of the day.

Baja Mexico Wine Excursion

There are three light rail lines in San Diego and they go from the Mexican border to well north of the city as far as Santee.  Too bad it doesn't go to La Jolla or Miramar; perhaps in the future.  The San Diego Convention Center stop is directly across the street from our hotel.  Our destination is the Morena/Linda Vista stop, the first one after Old Town.

The Baja Winery Tours van departs for Valle de Guadalupe in Baja Mexico at 0900 with eight tourists including an Aussie from Melbourne and her son now living in San Diego. We're warned of bumpy roads and a long drive.

It's motorway sailing all the way to Ensenada about an hour and a half of the two hour drive. Shortly after entering Mexico, the Ensenada Scenic Highway is indeed just that. It runs up high with scenic views of the Pacific and the modern construction growth along the Mexican Pacific coast.

A short drive to the east from Ensenada, still on good roads delivers us into the Valle de Guadalupe.  The first winery is La Lomita.  There is a long, slow bumpy dirt road to the winery. Having the place to ourselves on arrival, it quickly fills to the point where our driver/guide, Mario gives us the tour of the winery. The way they use the earth to assistance temperature control is fascinating.

 

 

The next tasting and tour is at Finca La Carrodilla; a sister winery to La Lomita.  The slowest crude elevator on the planet delivers us to the upper deck tasting area. The succulent gardens are magnificent. Their more inexpensive blend shows much better than their three single grape options. The dirt road into this one was thankfully much shorter.

 

 

A very long, very bumpy dirt road leads to lunch at Finca Altozano, the best restaurant in the Valle de Guadalupe. The restaurant is located in the middle of nowhere.  By looks, this restaurant is not terribly inviting.  The food is very good.

The first dish is a rare tuna, followed by a delicious zucchini platter and a pork enchilada.

 

 

The wind has come up and a cold front pushed through.  Mario recommends that the plan be changed.  Our next stop was a mountain top winery.  The shivering group agrees to an alternate winery in the valley; Emeve.

The wait at the border is 90 minutes.  Mario considers 60 minutes the minimum acceptable. Although scheduled to return at seven its nine by the time we return; and we still have the tram return.

San Diego is a great walking city

It's a beautiful morning in San Diego.

 

CJ is off on a walk.  It's nearly three miles from the hotel to the US Coast Guard Station across from the airport. Along the way one traverses a path along the waterfront with the bay to your left and downtown San Diego to the right. It's an easy walk because there is so much to see and keep one busy.

There is first the marina attached to the hotel.  Next one passes the Seaport Village with its shops and restaurants. Various port buildings grace the waterfront. The imposing USS Midway museum, a floating testimonial to US aircraft carriers and Naval air power comes next.  There are a number of commercial docks that load tourist boats. Eventually one comes across another nautical museum which began years ago with the sailing ship Star of India. Over the years a Russian submarine, US submarine, SWAN riverine boat, two sailing ships and the HMS Surprise, star of the Russell Crowe movie, Master and Commander have been added.

 

Quite some ways farther along one comes to the airport and USCG station. Today a helo departs as CJ arrives in the vicinity of the station.

By the time he returns some 80 minutes later, he's soaking wet. He was keeping a decent pace for the majority of the walk but when two women passed and toasted him, he became frustrated at not being able to pick up the pace.  A couple of hot twenty something's about 50 yards ahead of him solved the pace problem. Hot pursuit picked up the pace quite swimmingly.

Carol finally ventured out and it was for lunch.  We walked to Stone Brewing for lunch and a sampling of their brews. Stone is located adjacent to PETCO Park, home of the San Diego Padres.Unlike most MLB ball parks, part of the park is open as a public part.  In fact one could jump a short three foot fence and have access to the entire park.

 

The next stop is Mission Brewing which after four samples hasn't floated our boat. The best part is the old building and its architecture.

 

 

 

After returning to our room to release CJ's back and Carol's foot, we enjoy a nice sunset over Point Loma.

Once again make the short walk into the Gaslamp District to one of our two favorite sushi restaurants on the planet, Taka.

This place has the freshest uni (sea urchin) on the planet.  Once upon a time back in December of 2004 when CJ was finally released from seven weeks of seven long day weeks, he walked into this place and had them build him a "mountain of uni", a gorgeous stack of nothing but uni that cost about $80.

 This evening in addition to the uni, we enjoy ankimo (monkfish liver) or what we call Japanese foie gras, ama ebi (raw shrimp sushi with fried shrimp heads), the spectacular special roll of the day and a raw tuna, avocado and quail egg preparation. The sushi chefs were a lot of fun.

 

 

 

 

 Back at the hotel Carol had a couple of barrel-aged old fashions and CJ enjoyed another of their honey black ales.